A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Some 35% of women and 15% of men are supertasters.[1] Supertasters are more likely to be of Asian, African, and South American descent.[2] The cause of this heightened response is unknown, although it is thought to be related to the presence of the TAS2R38 gene, the ability to taste PROP and PTC, and at least in part, due to an increased number of fungiform papillae.[3] Any evolutionary advantage to supertasting is unclear. In some environments, heightened taste response, particularly to bitterness, would represent an important advantage in avoiding potentially toxic plant alkaloids. In other environments, increased response to bitterness may have limited the range of palatable foods. It may be a cause of picky eating, but picky eaters are not necessarily supertasters, and vice versa.

The term originates with experimental psychologist Linda Bartoshuk who has spent much of her career studying genetic variation in taste perception. In the early 1990s, Bartoshuk and her colleagues noticed some individuals tested in the laboratory seemed to have an elevated taste response and took to calling them supertasters.[4][dubious — see talk page] This increased taste response is not the result of response bias or a scaling artifact, but appears to have an anatomical/biological basis.

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In 1931, A.L. Fox, a DuPont chemist, discovered that some individuals found phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) to be bitter while others found it tasteless.[5][6] At the 1931 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fox collaborated with Blakeslee (a geneticist) to have attendees taste PTC: 65% found it bitter, 28% found it tasteless and 6% described other taste qualities. Subsequent work revealed that the ability to taste PTC was genetic in nature. In the 1960s, Roland Fischer was the first to link the ability to taste PTC, and the related compound propylthiouracil (PROP), to food preference and body type. Today, PROP has replaced PTC in taste research due to a faint sulfurous odor and safety concerns with PTC.[citation needed] As described above, Bartoshuk and colleagues discovered that the taster group could be further divided into medium and supertasters. Most estimates suggest 25% of the population are nontasters, 50% are medium tasters, and 25% are supertasters.[7]

The bitter taste receptor gene TAS2R38 has been associated with the ability to taste PROP[8] and PTC;[9] however, it cannot completely explain the supertasting phenomenon.[10] Still, the T2R38 genotype has been linked to a preference for sweetness in children,[11] avoidance of alcohol,[8][12] increased prevalence of colon cancer (via inadequate vegetable consumption)[13] and avoidance of cigarette smoking.[14]

Supertasters were initially identified on the basis of the perceived intensity of propylthiouracil (PROP) compared to a reference salt solution. However, because supertasters have a larger sense of taste than medium or nontasters, this can cause scaling artifacts.[6] Subsequently, salt has been replaced with a non-oral auditory standard. That is, if two individuals rate the same physical stimulus at a comparable perceptual intensity, but one gives a rating twice as large for the bitterness of a PROP solution, the experimenter can be confident the difference is real and not merely the result of how the person is using the scale.[citation needed]

Many studies do not include a cross-modal reference and simply categorize individuals on the basis of the bitterness of a concentrated PROP solution[15][16] or PROP impregnated paper.[17] It is also possible to make a reasonably accurate self-diagnosis at home by careful examination of the tongue and looking for the number of fungiform papillae[citation needed]. Blue food dye can make this easier. Being a supertaster or nontaster represents normal variation in the human population like eye or hair color, so no treatment is needed.

↑Mennella, J. A., Pepino, M. Y. and Reed, D. R. (2005) Genetic and environmental determinants of bitter perception and sweet preferences. Pediatrics, 115, e216-222. "individuals who were homozygous for the bitter-insensitive allele are referred to as AA, those who were heterozygous for the bitter-insensitive allele are referred to as AP, and those who were homozygous for the bitter-sensitive allele are referred to as PP. ... AP and PP children preferred significantly higher concentrations of sucrose solutions than did AA children."

↑"greater bitterness from 3.2 mM PROP was a significant predictor of greater ethanol intensity and less alcohol intake"

↑PMID 16298720 (PMID16298720)Citation will be completed automatically in a few minutes. Jump the queue or expand by hand "The results did not support the predicted association between the PAV and AVI haplotypes and smoker odds, but the AAV haplotype, which confers intermediate PTC/PROP taste sensitivity, was associated with reduced smoker prevalence"